Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 14.djvu/20

 10 KASHMIR the great parallel range of Karakorum or Mustagh. On the west and south, the hill boundary, which joins the other half of the enclosure at the south-east end of the valley, is the Panjal or Panchal range, which on its outer side sends down its branches southward, through the Jamu territory, to the plains of the Punjab. The length of the Kashmir valley, including the inner slopes of its surrounding hills, is about 120 miles from north-west to south-east. Its greatest width is about 75 miles. The low and comparatively level floor of the basin is 84 miles long and 20 to 24 miles broad. Its lowest part is 5200 feet above the sea, and its mean height 6000 feet. This valley is but a small portion, in area, of the dominions of the maharajA of Kashmir, which, in addition to the Jamu territory on the south (the previous posses sion of the present maharaja s father, Ghulab Singh, before he acquired Kashmir), include Baltistan and Gilgit on the north, and Kishtwar and Ladak on the east. On the west Kashmir is separated from the valley of Khagan by a con tinuous range of high hills, and from the British district of Haz&ra by the river Jheluin. Jamu, to which Kashmir was annexed in 1846, occupies the southern slopes of the Panjal range, with a strip of plain country at their foot, and extends about 220 miles from east to west, with a greatest direct breadth, north to south, of about 75 miles. All the rest of the maharaja s dominions is hill country. The hills forming the northern half-circuit of the Kashmir valley, and running beyond, include many lofty mountain masses and peaks, the most conspicuous of which, a little outside the confines of Kashmir, is Nanga Parbat, a grand hill (35 15 N., 74 35 K), rising 26,629 feet above the sea, with an extensive area of glacier on its eastern face. The great ridge which is thrown off to the south-west by Nanga Parbat rises, at a distance of 12 miles, to another summit 20,740 feet in height, from which run south-west and south-east the ridges which are the northern watershed boundary of Kashmir. The former range, after running 70 miles south-west, between the valleys of the Kishanganga and the KunhAr or Nain-sukh, turns south ward, closely pressing the river Jhelum, after it has received the Kishanganga, with a break a few miles further south which admits the Kunhar. This range presents several prominent summits, the two highest 16,487 and 15,544 feet above the sea. The range which runs south-east from the junction peak above-mentioned divides the valley of the Kishanganga from that of the Astor and other tribu taries of the Indus. The highest points on this range, where it skirts Kashmir, are 16,795, 16,930, and 17,202 feet above the sea. For a distance of more than 50 miles from Nanga Parbat there are no glaciers on this range ; thence eastward they increase ; one, near the Z6ji-la Pass, is only 10,850 feet above the sea. The mountains at the east end of the valley, running nearly north and south, drain inwards to the Jhelum, and on the other side to the Wardwan, a tributary of the Chenab. The highest part of this eastern boundary is 14,700 feet. There are no glaciers. The highest point on the Panjal range, which forms the south and south-west boundary, is 15,523 feet above the sea. The river Jhelum or Behat (Sanskrit Vitasta} the Hydaspes of Greek historians and geographers flows north-westward through the middle of the valley. After a slow and winding course it expands, about 25 miles below Srinagar, over a slight depression in the plain, and forms the Wiilar lake and marsh, which is of ill-defined extent, but maybe called about 10 miles long and 6 broad. The hills which this lake touches at its north end give it a more denned margin on that side. Leaving the lake on the south-west side, near the town of S6pur, the river pursues its sluggish course south-westward, about 18 mile?, to the gorge at Baramula. From this point the stream is more rapid through the narrow valley which conducts it westward 75 miles to Muzaffarabdd, where it turns sharply south, joined by the Kishanganga. At Islamabad, about 40 miles above Srinagar, the river is 5400 feet above sea- level, and at Srinagar 5235 feet. It has thus a fall of about 4 feet per mile in this part of its course. For the next 24 miles to the Wiilar lake, and thence to Baramula, its fall is only about 2|- feet in the mile. On the 80 miles of the river in the flat valley between Islamabad and Bara mula there is much boat traffic ; but none below Baramula, till the river comes out into the plains. On the north-east side of this low narrow plain of the Jhelum is a broad hilly tract between which and the higher boundary range runs the Kishanganga river. Near the east end of this interior hilly tract, and connected with the higher range, is one summit 17,839 feet. Around this peak and between the ridges which run from it are many small glaciers. These heights look down on one side into the beautiful valley of the Sind river, and on another into the valley of the Lidar, which join the Jhelum. Among the hills north of Srinagar rises one conspicuous mountain mass, 16,903 feet in height, from which on its north side descend tributaries of the Kishanganga, and on the south the Wangat river, which flows into the Sind. By these rivers and their numerous affluents the whole valley of Kashmir is watered abundantly. Around the foot of many spurs of the hills which run down on the Kashmir plain are pieces of low table-land, which are called karewa. These terraces vary in height at different parts of the valley from 100 to 300 feet above the alluvial plain. Those which are near each other are mostly about the same level, and separated by deep ravines. The level plain in the middle of the Kashmir valley is fine clay and sand, with water-worn pebbles. The kare was consist of horizontal beds of clay and sand, the lacustrine nature of which is shown by the shells which they contain. The hills surrounding the valley are chiefly gneiss and schists. In the Lidar valley are slate and sandstones of the Carboniferous period over green slate of a period corresponding to Silurian. The irregular ridges of the Panjal range are granite and gneiss, with schists and slates. Limestone is found in parts of the east and west ends of the valley, and in the hills upon the Manas Bal lake. In various places are marks of glacial action, down to a height of about 500 feet above the level part of the basin. From the plain rise isolated hills of trap ; among these are the Hari Parbat and the Takht-i-Suliman at Srinagar, on the former of which stands the fort, and on the latter a con spicuous and well known ancient Hindu temple. No fossils have been found in Kashmir below the rocks of the Carboniferous period. The chief mineral resources of the maharaja s dominions are outside the Kashmir valley, specially in Ladak. In the hills of the north boundary are two passes, the Burzil (13,500 feet) and the Kamri (13,200). By the former is the direct route between Srinagar and Iskardo. It is usually practicable only between 15th July and 15th September. The road from Srinagar to Ld in Ladak goes by the Z6ji-l& Pass (11,300 feet), near the north-east corner of the valley. Only a short piece of the road, where snow accumulates, prevents this pass being used all the year. At the south-east end of the valley are three passes, the Murgil (11,600 feet), the Hoksar (13,315), and the Murbul (11,550), all leading over to the valleys of the Chenab and the Ravi. South of Islamabad, on the direct route to Jamu and Sialkot, is the Banihal Pass (9200 feet). Further west on the Panjal range is the Pir Panjal or Panchal Pass (11,400 feet), with a second pass, the Rattan Pir (8200 feet), across a second ridge about 15 miles south-